The Land of Midian, vol 1 | Page 3

rich
collections the coins of ancient Midian found (Chap. III.), for the first
time, at Maghair Shu'ayb[EN#1]. Some years ago, Mr. Robert Ready,
of the British Museum, had bought from a Jew, Yusuf Kalafat (?), a
miscellaneous collection, which included about sixty of the so-called
Midianitic coins. But the place of discovery is wholly unknown. The
Assistant Keeper read a paper "On Arabian Imitations of Athenian
Coins," Midianitic, Himyaritic, and others, at a meeting of the
Numismatic Society (November 21, 1878); and I did the same at the
Royal Asiatic Society, December 16, 1878. The little "find" of stone
implements, rude and worked; and the instruments illustrating the
mining industry of the country, appeared before the Anthropological
Section of the British Association, which met at Dublin (August, 1878),
and again before the Anthropological Institute of London, December 10,
1878.
Finally, the skulls and fragments of skulls from Midian were submitted

to Professor Richard Owen, the Superintendent of Natural History; and
my learned friend kindly inspected the Egyptian and Palmyrene crania
which accompanied them. The whole was carefully described by Dr. C.
Carter Blake, Ph.D., before the last-named seance of the
Anthropological Institute (December 10, 1878).
The tons of specimens brought to Cairo were, I have said, publicly
exhibited there, and created much interest. But the discovery of a
mining-country, some three hundred miles long, once immensely
wealthy, and ready to become wealthy once more, is not likely to be
accepted by every one. Jealous and obstructive officials "did not think
much of it." Rivals opposed it with even less ceremony. A mild "ring"
in Egypt attempted in vain to run the Hamamat and Dar-For mines
(Chap. III.) against Midian. Consequently the local Press was dosed
with rumours, which, retailed by the home papers, made the latter rife
in contradictory reports. To quote one case only. The turquoise-gangue
from Ziba (Chap. XII.) was pronounced, by the inexpert mineralogists
at the Citadel, Cairo, who attempted criticism, to be carbonate of
copper, because rich silicates of that metal were shown at the
Exposition. No one seemed to know that the fine turquoises of Midian
have been sold for years at Suez, and even at Cairo.
There was, indeed, much to criticise in the collection, which had been
made with a marvellous carelessness. But we must not be hard upon M.
Marie. He is an engineer, utterly ignorant of mineralogy and of
assaying: he was told off to do the duty, and he did it as well as he
could--in other words, very badly. He neglected to search for alluvial
gold in the sands. Every Wady which cuts, at right angles, the
metalliferous maritime chains, should have been carefully prospected;
these sandy and quartzose beds are natural conduits and sluice-boxes.
But the search for "tailings" is completely different from that of
gold-veins, and requires especial practice. The process, indeed, may be
called purely empirical. It is not taught in Jermyn Street, nor by the
Ecole des Mines. In this matter theory must bow to "rule of thumb:" the
caprices of alluvium are various and curious enough to baffle every
attempt at scientific induction. Thus the "habits" of the metal, so to
speak, must be studied by experiment with patient labour, the most

accomplished mineralogist may pass over rich alluvium without
recognizing its presence, where the rude prospector of California and
Australia will find an abundance of stream-gold. Evidently the
proportion of "tailings" must carefully be laid down before companies
are justified in undertaking the expensive operation of quartz-crushing.
Hence M. Tiburce Morisot, a practical digger from South Africa,
introduced at Cairo by his compatriot, M. Marie, to my friend M.
Yacoub Artin Bey, found a fair opportunity of proposing to his
Highness the Khediv (October, 1878) a third Expedition in search of
sand-gold. The Viceroy, however, true to his undertaking, refused to
sanction any "interloping."
The highly distinguished M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, when en route to
Paris, kindly took charge of some cases of specimens for analysis. But
the poorest stuff had been supplied to him by M. Marie; and the results,
of which I never heard, were probably nil. The samples brought to
England, by order of his Highness the Khediv, were carefully assayed.
The largest collection was submitted to Dr. John Percy, F.R.S. Smaller
items were sent to the well-known houses, Messrs. Johnston and
Matthey, of Hatton Garden, and Messrs. Edgar Jackson and Co.,
Associates of the Royal School of Mines (fourteen samples). Finally,
special observations were made by Mr. John L. Jenken, of Carrington,
through Mr. J. H. Murchison, of "British Lead Mines," etc., etc., etc.;
by Lieut.-Colonel Ross, the distinguished author of "Pyrology;" and by
Lieut.-Colonel Bolton, who kindly compared the rocks with those in his
cabinet. M. Gastinel-Bey's analysis of the specimens brought home by
the first Expedition will be found